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MyVisionTest News Archive

Jan 21, 2011

FDA approves stem cell trial for AMDAdvanced Cell Technology said on Monday it had won U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to test human embryonic stem cells for treating macular degeneration, a common cause of vision loss.

It is the second FDA-approved trial for ACT's stem cell product and the third for the controversial and powerful stem cells.

In November, ACT won FDA approval for the second human trial of human embryonic stem cells to treat people with a progressive form of blindness called Stargardt's macular dystrophy.

Wet AMD can be treated with laser surgery, photodynamic therapy and injections of Roche's drug Lucentis (ranibizumab) into the eye. Taking a specific combination of vitamins and zinc can reduce the risk of dry AMD and perhaps slow its progression.

There are no good treatments for advanced cases of dry AMD, which causes an estimated 85% of cases of macular degeneration, according to the U.S. National Eye Institute.

Last year, the Obama administration overturned the strictest of the limitations on using federal funds for the research, but last summer two researchers challenged the policy.

A U.S. appeals court has ruled that funding could continue while the government appeals, but grants from the National Institutes of Health have been frozen and unfrozen as various courts have weighed in, and the court battles are continuing.